From Tools to Teammates? Rethinking AI’s Role in Learning

Generative AI is increasingly moving beyond the role of a tool or assistant to become more deeply involved in learning and thinking. But what happens to learner agency when parts of the learning process are delegated to AI? In this talk, I will draw on our From Tools to Teammates? workshop at AIED 2026, where researchers used educational design fictions to explore different forms of human–AI collaboration. I will discuss how concepts of learner agency and extended cognition can help us examine these emerging relationships, while speculative methods offer ways to explore and design different possibilities for human–AI collaboration in education.